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| Apr 26th 2012, 12:40 |
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The film panders to its audience, making them feel "smarter" than the characters in an oh so obvious manner, then coming up with the least threatening and most assuring plot resolutions, as absurd as some of them are. It is a grade A comfort zone film to make people think they are watching "art" while in reality there is less artfullness here than in the average episode of any given CSI. Tedious is a personal reaction. I looked at my watch starting at 10 minutes into the film, then every 5 minutes there after. What is ridiculous is not that it is about aging people - I never said that. What is ridiculous is the character development (Maggie Smith's in particular on several levels), many of the out of the blue plot developments, that sort of thing. The Wilkinson story arc is most effecting, but also (without spoiling it) another example of that sort of story seeming to be a breakthrough, but nothing of the sort (it is self-congratulatory if anything), since more conservative (if politically more liberal) audiences don't have to deal with any "ick" factor. Of course some audiences will applaud - their is a paucity of theatrically film dealing with these issues, so some will give it a break. And then it again is done in a way to both think audiences are being somehow enlightened in their response, when in reality it is totally supportive of virtually all convention, the superiority of Western (British) ways with some token pandering to the value of other cultures, and otherwise full of reactionary cultural tropes.
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| Apr 26th 2012, 12:52 |
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Good gracious, man--this film is anything but "reactionary"! And you do it a disservice and injustice by unfairly vilifying it as such. |
| Apr 26th 2012, 12:58 |
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It is aesthetically reactionary (which has nothing to do with politics). In its using a fish out of water story and brief tidbits of openness to foreign culture while ultimately doing nothing but reinforcing the idea of superiority of its English characters, it verges on political reactionary values as well.
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| Apr 26th 2012, 13:03 |
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Well, you did ask for it. It's always the same, and it's an interesting look inside of an individual mind. The Sunne in Splendour; I prefer my Roses White |
| Apr 26th 2012, 13:31 |
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I had a chance to see "Best Exotic" too. I wasn't a fan. It was a sweet trifle, watchable but bland, was as weightless as tissue paper. What holds the film back, for me, is its melodrama. It creates a number of conflicts whose resolutions are all plainly obvious from the start (whether the hotel will stay in business, whether the young hotel manager will stand up to his mother, whether the old racist will see the error of her ways, and so on). I think the film would have worked better if it had been less sentimental and focused more on verbal wit. I think this cast would have knocked that kind of film out of the park.  |
| Apr 26th 2012, 13:34 |
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Dr Seuss' The Lorax; Chris Renaud Far more subversive than I expected, and completely within my own sentiments, The Lorax may suffer from overkill for many adults, but for people of a certain age, I'm hunting this Seuss book down and am buying a few for some of my very young friends. I wasnt crazy about the music in the film, but I was the only one out of those I saw it with. B The Sunne in Splendour; I prefer my Roses White |
| Apr 26th 2012, 14:20 |
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<<Well, you did ask for it. It's always the same, and it's an interesting look inside of an individual mind. >> Pot, meet kettle. Virtually every "problem" you have with me (most of which these day comes without your not even reading my posts, so from a point of just guessing) is something you do as much or usually much more than me. it's pure projection, and an inability to deal with changing your own ways. I don't care. You can act however you like as much as it might not be my cup of tea (apart from snide personal attacks which I reserve the right to respond to). We are all a community. I have zero issue with you being here. I wish you could be the same. If not, so be it.
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| Apr 26th 2012, 15:58 |
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Eh, I only gave the film a "B" -- it's not like I married it. Still, I maintain there is nothing "reactionary" about it, either politically or aesthetically. And to DM's point, all the conflicts are NOT resolved at film's end. Yes, it's a trifle, but it's an entertaining trifle, and at times even deeply moving, as when the Tom Wilkinson character talks about his lost love. Plus, there is nothing inherently wrong with "melodrama" -- some of the finest films ever made (such as Douglas Sirk's weepers) are melodramatic.
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| Apr 26th 2012, 16:25 |
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Nothing against good melodrama myself. But this wasn't good melodrama - it was a bunch of forced, obvious, underdeveloped story lines thrown together, lacking in credibility, and then meant to be given interest and credibility of the rent-a-cast involved. Downton Abbey, as much as it is also a trifle, is a masterpiece in comparison. .
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| Apr 26th 2012, 19:03 |
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I don't think "Best Exotic" executes melodrama well. I have yet to see films by Sirk, but I do admire the work of Pedro Almodovar, who is an artist of melodrama. And I don't think "Downton Abbey" is a trifle (I love that show), but that too is good melodrama. This, by comparison, is rather thin, and I'm trying to think of a storyline that wasn't wrapped up in a neat bow by the end. Maybe one, sort of, but if it's the one I'm thinking off, that is well on its way to a neat bow once the credits roll. If it had been less diagrammatic in its dramatic storylines, and the dialogue sharper, they would have had something. As is, I found it inoffensive, sometimes charming, pretty forgetable. |
| Apr 26th 2012, 20:14 |
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Yes, I walked right into that one (again). It's like when somebody asks you to pull his finger and some horrible, overwhelming compulsion compels you to do so... |
| Apr 26th 2012, 20:46 |
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What's wrong with a civil discussion, including disagreement? You did nothing wrong. Happy to have both viewpoints presented. Don't know why this other person wants to stifle discussion, although that desire is expressed with some regularity.
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| Apr 26th 2012, 23:36 |
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MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Simon Curtis, 2011 The filmmakers have set themselves up for an impossible task: To capture the essence of Marilyn Monroe fifty years after her death. Michelle Williams is a lovely actress but she's not Marilyn Monroe. It is ironic and, in my opinion, disrespectful to the memory of Miss Monroe for the Academy to nominate an actress for doing a somewhat passable imitation of her, especially in light of the fact it never saw fit to nominate her even once when she was alive. I've seen drag queens do passable, or at least entertaining, imitations; I myself once performed a persuasive rendition of Marilyn singing "Happy Birthday, Mr President." In the end, the film cannot truly "explain" Miss Monroe or her behavior, nor can it fully capture that je ne sais quoi that made Marilyn... Marilyn. I suspect no film can. MVP: Judi Dench as 'Sybil Thorndike' Grade for MY WEEK WITH MARILYN: B- |
| Apr 27th 2012, 08:49 |
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What I liked about Williams' performance is that it for me conveyed humanity along with a decent representation (not a slavish imitation) of a famous person that gave the audience a sense of what made her tick and added to the understanding of her, something that mere makeup and accent, no matter how impressive, doesn't do. I thought she was terrific.
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| Apr 27th 2012, 11:02 |
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Eh, is that just another back-handed jab at Meryl Streep? As for me, I never doubted Marilyn Monroe's "humanity" for a second, and certainly didn't need a movie to discover what is already readily apparent from her screen roles. |
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